Pipe bands

The Pipe Band Championship Belgium is part of the Scottish Weekend, organised at the Landcommandery of Alden Biesen in Rijkhoven-Bilzen, Belgium.

Just like the Drum Major and Solo Piping & Drumming Competition, this Belgium Championship will be organised following the rules of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association and adjudicated by officials of the R.S.P.B.A.

We are pleased to invite your band to participate in this competition in September. Until then, we wish you and your pipeband a lot of succes in the ongoing season.

You can find more information about the Pipe Band Competition on this website or you can contact the PB coordinator Rens van Amelsvoort

Rules

The Belgian Championship for Pipebands will be organised according to the rules of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association. The adjudicators for the competition will be appointed by the R.S.P.B.A.
Every Pipe Band can participate:

in their own grade;

in open grade;

possibly in one grade up*;

Registration for participation in this competition will be possible until 15/08 by completion of the PBCB-entry form. All participating Pipe Bands are expected to be on the competition field on time as indicated in the competition time-table we will provide (and under the guidance of our stewards). Bands arriving late will be disqualified automatically.
(*) When there are too many enrollments, we reserve the right to cancel participation in one grade up. This will be decided 4 weeks prior to the competition!

Registration & Payment

Entry fee :

€ 25,00,- for participation in own grade

€ 12,50 - for participation in one grade up *

€ 12,50 - for participation in open grade * Subscriptions for a grade are restricted to 20 bands. Therefore enrollment for pipe bands wishing to enter an upgrade competition can be refused due to circumstances. Participating bands will be notified of their entry in time.

Participating in the competition will be possible only after all entry fees for all competitions have been paid before the start of the competition.

Timely registration will insure you that you will receive the competition time table and all other practical information well in advance and will allow us time to secure the time table and provide the spectators with the correct information.

Presentation during the weekend

At your arrival at Alden Biesen, the Pipe Major or the secretary announce the pipe band at the main entrance (Roelandt Du Vivierlaan). The Entrance desk opens at 8 am. There he will receive the (free) bracelets which give the pipe band members access to the terrain on Saturday and/or Sunday.

Next, the Pipe Major or Secretary needs to present their registration at the PBCB-registration desk on the competition site before 10 am, to pay the entry fees. To prevent unnecessary costs, we advise you to pay in cash (euro) on the weekend itself at the P.B.C.B.-Registration desk.

Pipe Bands, Drum Majors and/or Solo Pipers and Drummers must register before the start of the competition at the PBCB-Registration desk at the competition site. Participating in the competition will only be possible after payment of the registration fees.

Guest-appearances

Pipe Bands having to travel a long distance, can request to perform paid guest-appearances during the Scottish Weekend to reduce travel costs. These guest-appearances take place at the Castle site, at the competition area or even in the surrounding villages on Friday evening (1) and/or on Saturday (1) - and Sunday (3) afternoon. Pipe Bands which are interested in a guest-appearance can send their request to Niels De Weyer. He will look into your request and accepted candidates for such a guest-appearance will be contacted in due time for further coördination.

Pipe Bands which appear in a guest-appearance will bring an attractive show performed by a minimum of 15 bandmembers. A guest-appearance normally includes 4 performances of 20 minutes at different locations.

On request a contract will be made between the Pipe Band and the organisation of the Scottish Weekend. Please note that the timetable for guest-appearances can be subject to circumstancial changes during the Scottish Weekend.

Transport & parking

Pipe Bands travelling to Alden Biesen organise their own transport.
Pipe Bands from abroad can have detailed information about transport in Belgium. Upon request, we can inform foreign bands about Belgian touroperators. Send your request to Rens van Amelsvoort.

The contract between the touroperator and the band must be made directly by the band. The Scottish Weekend organisation will never make arrangements for the band's journey.

The organisation of the Scottish Weekend provides a free car park to pipe band members and participant in the solo competitions. This reserved car park is close to the competition site. Please follow the signs 'auto parking PBCB' , leading you to the pipe band car park.
For the use of this reserved pipe band carpark a (free) parking voucher is needed.
This parking voucher must be visible at all times (placed behind the windscreen).

Parking vouchers will be sent to the pipe band contact in advance. Requests for Parking Vouchers must be sent to the PB coordinator Rens van Amelsvoortbefore September 1st.

To avoid overcrowding the car park and in light of environmental protection, may we ask to carpool as much as possible?

travelling by coach

For pipe bands travelling by coach we provide a free reserved coach parking close to the competition site. Parking in this area is only possible with a special coach parking voucher. Please follow the signs 'bus parking PBCB' leading you to the coach parking area.
For the use of the coach parking area a (free) coach parking voucher is needed. The coach parking voucher must be visible at all times (placed behind the windscreen).

Requests for a coach parking voucher must be sent to the PB coordinator Rens van Amelsvoort before September 1st.

The coach parking voucher will be sent to the pipeband contact in advance.